Border Roads Organization (BRO): I am a Fan

Border Roads Organization (BRO) Signboard: Yumthang Valley, Sikkim

I am a big fan Border Roads Organization (BRO). What do they do? As the name suggests, they maintain the roads that are on the border that India has with other countries. And that means tough job.

With a humble beginning, with just two Projects – Project Tusker (renamed Project Vartak ) in the East at Tezpur and Project Beacon in the West at Srinagar, the BRO as a result oriented Organisation, producing quality work, with little time or cost overrun, even in the most adverse conditions of working, grew from strength to strength over the last four decades, to be a vast and vibrant Organisation with thirteen Chief Engineer Projects spread across the length and breath of the country, operating in 22 States including the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Seven Chief Engineer Projects located in the North East, three in J & K, one in Himachal Pradesh / Uttaranchal and the balance in Western and Central India.

The first thing that brought them on my radar was their ubiquitouss yellow sings all along the Manali-Leh road and Ladakh. Then a read a very moving piece about BRO written by Vikrum in 2006.

This time in Sikkim, I was actively seeking their presence and the project there is called Project Dantak. I am sure they have a huge role to play for military but what I know them for and remember them for is keeping the mountain roads safe and accessible for people like me who love going there.

I also identify with what Ubermensch writes about BRO:

Somehow as you manage through a bumpy ride on one unhealthy segment of a longish curve with its metalling worn out off the road, you are greeted to a better maintained segment with a board which readsInconvenience is Regretted, BRO.
In a nation that is India, to find such a courteous signboard here, in this desolate corner, at an altitude of 15000 feet or so above the sea level under such rough conditions melts your heart away. As they say great deeds go into history books but its the smaller gestures that find their place in the heart.

Manali-Leh Highway and the Border Roads Organization

The new academic semester has started and it will take me sometime to get back to my regular blogging. At the start of the semester, life seems so hectic, but two weeks later, I invariably find time. In the meanwhile, I thought I will share this moving piece written by Vikrum at How the Other Half Lives.

I also noticed that their clothes were pathetically inadequate for the climate. One man had a torn green windbreaker and another wore two long-sleeved t-shirts. It was painful for me to see these grown men shivering as they observed us.

These men, like the Nepalis, seemed eager to talk to anyone who would listen. I introduced myself to the group, and one man answered for all of them. The first thing he said caught me off-guard. He said, in Hindi with a strong country accent, “We are proud to keep this highway open for you all.”

I realized that he worked for the Border Roads Organization. He and his friends were the reason why the road was open and in such excellent condition.